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Cayo Hueso is one of the five local wards (barrios) that make up the municipality of Central Havana, in the city of Havana, Cuba. Its name comes from the inhabitants who founded the neighbourhood at the end of the nineteenth century. Many of them came from, or maintained links with, the tobacco working communities in Tampa and Key West, Florida. Key West, or Cayo Oeste in Spanish, eventually become Cayo Hueso.

This is a strong working class and revolutionary neighbourhood; many important social, political and military actions were born here during the period of struggle for independence from Spain, as well as during the years of struggle against Baptista. In addition, this neighbourhood is the cradle of the rumba tradition and an important centre of Cuban folklore. It is a neighbourhood where the beating of drums is always in the air, an area full of hideaways and poets, of bars and spirits, of rooftops and chatter, full of seductive and rebellious beings.

It is in this neighbourhood that the Cuban government choose to initiate an ambitious plan of urban rehabilitation, convocating the residents themselves to participate in the repair and construction of their own homes. Eighteen state institutions, along with all the social organisations of the neighbourhood, were involved. The project lasted two years, during which 11,200 dwellings were repaired or completed, benefiting a total of almost 37,000 inhabitants.

We had the privilege to work as members of the ORD (Rehabilitation and Development Office of Central Havana), the non-government organisation responsible for the project. Our contribution included consulting on international development funding, translation and, most important, maintenance of an audio-visual record of the project. We produced three documentaries, a series of reports for Cuban television, three video-clips and more than 120 hours of video documentation during the two unforgettable years. The video Central Havana is a summary of those years; an attempt to preserve what is not possible to express in simple words.

...the sweat and the nostalgia of the finished project remain in our memories, as well as the rum and the coffee of happiness, the drum beat of hope... probably some part of each of our souls continue to inhabit the sensuous porches and verandas of Central Havana.

This video was produced by GRYPHON MEDIA PRODUCTIONS known in Cuba as GRYPHON productions.

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